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The What Are You Reading thread (now with a simpler name)


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20 hours ago, ShadySands said:

All the WoT talk in the TV thread reminded me that I have like 2 books in Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series to read still. 

I forgot where I left the Stormlight Archive. Book 3 I think. Will probably need to reread that at some point.

5 hours ago, Azdeus said:

Did either of you two read either the Deverry or Paksenarrion series?

No, are they good?

"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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26 minutes ago, Sarex said:

No, are they good?

I like them alot, but I read them first time when I was a teen so I'm very biased towards them. The Deverry series especially.

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Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken

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20 hours ago, Azdeus said:

@Bartimaeus@Sarex

Did either of you two read either the Deverry or Paksenarrion series?

Afraid not. Recommend a specific novel from each of them, and I promise I'll at least try them out. As mentioned in the TV thread, I've been long out of the fantasy genre, but I tend to know whether I like an author's writing and am interested or not within a handful of chapters at worst, so I can certainly give them a try.

Edited by Bartimaeus
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How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything - spelling, arithmetic, riding, tennis, golf; dancing, singing, acting; wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying'. I tried with all my heart.

In my dreams, I am not crippled. In my dreams, I dance.

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2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Afraid not. Recommend a specific novel from each of them, and I promise I'll at least try them out. As mentioned in the TV thread, I've been long out of the fantasy genre, but I tend to know whether I like an author's writing and am interested or not within a handful of chapters at worst, so I can certainly give them a try.

Katharine Kerr Daggerspell, and Elizabeth Moon Sheepfarmers Daughter

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Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken

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  • 3 months later...

"The Hundred Years War" by Jonathan Sumption, or at least the first volume thus far. It's a lengthy read.

"It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats."

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  • 2 weeks later...

After many years, I finally finished the "Liveship Traders" trilogy. I let the final book unfinished for too long.

Hobb is a very good writer, but "Six Duchies" is just such a better setting

The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.

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45 minutes ago, HoonDing said:

Hobb is a very good writer

I hate her writing with a passion, but I will need to give it another go one of these days. The feelings have cooled after a decade and I need to reaffirm them.

"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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Started the sequel to The Peripheral, Agency.  Gibson sure name drops a lot big names (at the time) in Tech, heh. 

Edited by Malcador

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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  • 2 weeks later...
5 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I just started Children of Ruin. If it is even a fraction as good as Children of Time, it will be a great read.

It is. I need to get around to reading Children of Memory. I started it but never got back to it...

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"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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On 2/26/2024 at 11:54 PM, melkathi said:

I just started Children of Ruin. If it is even a fraction as good as Children of Time, it will be a great read.

Out of interest, I checked on this a bit, because good SF is really enjoyable and I love to read it. I have to say I was a bit disappointed by how predictable some facets of the whole thing were: three titles, lots of pages, all titles very similar to one another. It's getting very formulaic, I think. (And of course the books really can be superb, but given the above, the odds don't seem great[*].)

 

[*] Case in point: The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe doesn't really grip you with the fact that there are four novels in the series and they all have fairly grandiose titles, but dear god the books are good, just about the best kind of literature you can expect to see in SF/fantasy. Actually Wolfe transcends genre completely.

Edited by xzar_monty
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  • 2 weeks later...

Reread Dune after watching the newest movie made me realize how much I had forgotten about the story. On to book 2.

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"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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The only Dune book I ever read was Sandworms of Dune, which I think is the last one narrative-wise. Inconceivably, I did not get that much out of it.

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How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything - spelling, arithmetic, riding, tennis, golf; dancing, singing, acting; wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying'. I tried with all my heart.

In my dreams, I am not crippled. In my dreams, I dance.

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7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

The only Dune book I ever read was Sandworms of Dune, which I think is the last one narrative-wise. Inconceivably, I did not get that much out of it.

You poor bastard.

I am re reading the series, I have read Dune maybe 4 or 5 timea but rest of the series only once. Shame my paperbacks are such poor quality, got them 17 years ago

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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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38 minutes ago, Malcador said:

I am re reading the series, I have read Dune maybe 4 or 5 timea but rest of the series only once. Shame my paperbacks are such poor quality, got them 17 years ago

I could never get past book 5, but it has been quite a bit since I read it. Will try again. From what I see the last book came out 2 years ago.

"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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10 minutes ago, Sarex said:

I could never get past book 5, but it has been quite a bit since I read it. Will try again. From what I see the last book came out 2 years ago.

His son churns them out, apparently we must hear tales of every little detail.  He should work with Games Workshop.

Edited by Malcador
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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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Tbh, the summary of the books until the end does seem interesting, that kind of gives me fuel to power through it, at least until that book.

"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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The books never revealed what happened to the child (daughter) Margot Fenring needed to conceive with Feyd-Rautha, right? The Bene Gesserit wanting to "correct" Jessica's mistake.

The non-Frank Herbert books are just boring.

The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.

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I just realized why I completely forgot that book 2 exists... Such a shift in narrative style from book 1.

5 hours ago, HoonDing said:

The books never revealed what happened to the child (daughter) Margot Fenring needed to conceive with Feyd-Rautha, right?

Depends on which books you want to read. https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Marie_Fenring

"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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57 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Depends on which books you want to read. https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Marie_Fenring

No HoonDing was right. The books never revealed anything about that plot thread.  Never.

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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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Finished book 2. I read book 1 in Serbian and book 2 in English, so I can't say for sure, but it really does feel like a completely different approach to narrative, at least the first half of the book.

2 hours ago, Malcador said:

No HoonDing was right. The books never revealed anything about that plot thread.  Never.

Was it from the game?

"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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20 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Finished book 2. I read book 1 in Serbian and book 2 in English, so I can't say for sure, but it really does feel like a completely different approach to narrative, at least the first half of the book.

Was it from the game?

No, just a joke on how Brian Herbert's books don't exist :lol:

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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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7 hours ago, Malcador said:

No, just a joke on how Brian Herbert's books don't exist :lol:

It was very late when I read the post. I was tired... Let's go with that excuse... :facepalm:

"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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On 3/16/2024 at 1:05 AM, Sarex said:

Reread Dune after watching the newest movie made me realize how much I had forgotten about the story. On to book 2.

I read it recently out of curiosity aroused by the movie, and it was interesting to note, yet again, how marvelously a science fiction book often begins and how unsatisfactory the ending is, by comparison. This is very common in both sci-fi and fantasy, in my view. (Neither the Lord of the Rings nor the Earthsea stories suffer from it, but they're so good(*) that they essentially transcend genre anyway.) Sometimes in "horror" as well, like in Stephen King's Under the Dome, which remains a really good story despite the completely ridiculous ending (but to be fair to King, he put himself in an impossible situation to begin with.)

 

(*) Notwithstanding Tolkien's serious problems in various areas, well established and often talked about.

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